Make way for another MMA crossover in professional wrestling, because “The American Psycho” Stephan Bonnar is stepping into the squared circle for the first time … at a bowling alley.
Bonnar sayshe and fellow MMA fighter Phil Baroni are forming a tag team called “The Real Shooters” and will be making their in-ring debut on July 16.
It’s certainly a humble start to the UFC legend’s wrestling career, because the event is taking place at Inman’s Bowling Alley and Recreation Center in Valparaiso, Indiana. Bonnar, however, promises a good show.
“I’m going to be doing flashy spin kicks, slapping submissions on these fools, and Phil Baroni’s going to be doing his thing. ‘The New York Badass.’ So, you’re going to be entertained. I guarantee it.”
The UFC made the announcement today that Megan Anderson is out of UFC 214 and replacing her will be Invicta’s bantamweight champion Tonya Evinger.
In an official statement Anderson had this to say:
“I have been wanting this fight for a long time and finally got the opportunity to showcase my skills on the big stage but unfortunately due to some pressing personal reasons that are out of my control, it is not to be right now. I am no stranger to struggle and this is the biggest struggle I have faced yet, but like I always do, I will come back stronger and better than before and I will be coming straight for Cris, the Title and becoming the face of the UFC 145lb division. I am determined and resolved to make history and shock the world. I’m coming for whoever has that belt.”
Cyborg vs. Evinger will still be for the featherweight title and It’ll serve as the co the main event for Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones. UFC 214 will take place in Anaheim California on Saturday July 29th 2017
After months of the newly established women’s featherweight division being in limbo the UFC has finally given us a match up and it’s a huge one.
Today the promotion made the official announcement that at UFC 214 Cris Cyborg will return to the octagon to take on rising star Megan Anderson.
This announcement comes after Germaine De Randamie announced that she would be going back down to 135 therefore being stripped of her tittle. Randamie became UFC’s 1st women’s featherweight champion by defeating Holy Holm at UFC208 last February.
The last time we saw cyborg in the octagon was last September when she defeated Lina Lansberg via TKO in the 2nd round. UFC214 will be the first time cyborg fights at 145 inside the UFC.
On the other side we have Megan Anderson who has been on a tear in invicta. With a record of (8-2) the Australian native is coming off 4 straight wins including her most recent win over Charmaine Tweet at invicta 21 last January. On that night Anderson became invicta’s interim featherweight champion and later became its official champion once cyborg decided to vacate the title.
With all of this in consideration this is the fight that many believe should’ve been the first featherweight match up in the UFC to begin with. Both cyborg and Anderson have been very vocal about this fight and now it’s finally happening.
The fight will take place on July 29th in Anaheim California as the co main event for Cormier vs Jones 2.
As far as Anderson’s Invicta title goes that is still up in the air. She was slated to defend her belt at Invicta24 against Helena Kolesnyk on July 15th, that is obviously no longer the case. Kolesnyk will now be taking on Tonya Evinger in a non title fight.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens to Invicta’s featherweight division after the dust has settled. Until then we have an awesome fight to look forward to and we’re definitely excited about it.
Former UFC heavyweight Tim Hague has died following injuries he sustained during a boxing match on Friday.
“It is with incredible sadness, sorrow and heartbreak to report that Tim has passed away today,” Hague’s sister, Jackie Neil, wrote in a family statement sent out on Sunday. “He was surrounded by family, listening to his favorite songs. We will miss him with so greatly.”
Hogue lost by knockout to Adam Braidwood in a boxing match at the Shaw Conference Centre in an event promoted by KO Boxing. He was pronounced dead on Sunday.
Hogue won his UFC debut against Pat Barry at UFC 98 in 2009 but lost his next three fights. His last fight with the UFC was at UFC Fight Night 23, where he lost to Matt Mitrione on January 23, 2011. He finished his UFC career with a record of 1-4.
Via Sporting News, Showtime announced Mauro Ranallo will be the Play-by-Play Announcer for the upcoming Mayweather vs. McGregor fight on August 26. Mauro retweeted the article once the news broke:
Mayweather vs. McGregor: Meet the Showtime TV team that will call the PPV megafight https://t.co/ZM3RbK5Wnc
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor has been signed for Aug. 26 in Las Vegas, Mayweather and McGregor both confirmed on social media. The fight will air live on pay-per-view.
UFC president Dana White said Wednesday on SportsCenter that the fight will take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and be contested at 154 pounds. Both fighters will wear 10-pounce gloves, White said.
The hotly debated boxing match will mark the first time that a current UFC champion challenges a boxer in a boxing match.
The fight, which will be sanctioned by the Nevada Athletic Commission, will be a professional boxing match, meaning if Mayweather wins, he’ll be the first boxer to have a perfect 50-0 record. It is expected to be the most anticipated “mixed” fight since Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki in June 1976.
Mayweather Jr. (49-0), considered one of the greatest boxers of all time, announced his retirement from the sport following a September 2015 win over Andre Berto. However, he said recently that he was only interested in returning to action for a fight against McGregor.
McGregor (0-0 in boxing, 21-3 in MMA), the current UFC lightweight champion, has never competed in a professional boxing match, but he is considered one of the best mixed martial artists in the world. He made history in November when he defeated then-lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez to became the first fighter in UFC history to be a champion in two different weight classes at the same time. Since then, though, the UFC stripped the Irish-born fighter of his featherweight title due to inactivity.
Mayweather, 40, and McGregor, 28, have been flirting with the idea of fighting each other for almost a year, but things seemed to heat up after McGregor defeated Alvarez at Madison Square Garden late last year.
For a while, though, the super fight appeared to be nothing more than a pipe-dream, but McGregor remained steadfast in his desire to challenge the undefeated boxer.
“It’s the fight to make,” McGregor said in January. “It’s the fight the people want. It’s the fight I want. I know I’m confident going in there.
“I’ve got the reach. I’ve got youth. I’ve got the confidence. I’ve got the unpredictable style. You can’t prepare for a style like me. A guy said to me, why conquer one world when you can conquer two? So I’m going to go conquer two worlds.”
In March, while in attendance to support fellow Irishman Michael Conlan in his pro boxing debut, McGregor erupted on the boxing media sitting ringside.
“No one in this boxing game knows what’s coming,” he said. “Trust me on that. When I step in there, I’m going to shock the whole goddamn world. Trust me on that. Look me in the eyes. Twenty-eight years of age, confident as a motherf*cker, long, rangy, dangerous with every hand.
“Trust me, I’m going to stop Floyd and you’re all going to eat your words. The whole world is going to eat their words.”
While his purse has yet to be announced, McGregor is expected to make more for this one fight than he’s ever made in his career. Details of the deal have yet to be announced.
It’s unclear at this time how much the pay-per-view will cost or who will fight on the undercard.
The Nevada commission approved the Aug. 26 date for a Mayweather Promotions card Wednesday during its monthly meeting. At the time of the meeting, it was not fully known that it would be for Mayweather vs. McGregor.
Ronda Rousey’s return to the UFC remains a mystery, but the former female bantamweight champion is headed back to work. Rousey will be part of the revamped “Battle of the Network Stars” series on ABC beginning this June.
Rousey, who lost to Amanda Nunes last December in her first fight since dropping the title to Holly Holm in 2015, will be part of the series that spans 10 episodes. She will be a team captain along with DeMarcus Ware.
“If someone could go back in time and tell the 10-year-old me, glued to the television, watching Howard Cosell and all the biggest names in television running obstacle courses and playing tug of war, that someday he would be directly involved with Battle of the Network Stars, he would have said it was the coolest thing ever,” host Mike Greenberg said. “Decades later, that’s exactly how I feel.”
The Sun reports that 5 Star Wrestling promoter Daniel Hinkles is offering $1 million to former WWE Champion CM Punk to make a return to the ring on 5 Star’s 128-man tournament that begins on June 10th in Liverpool.
Hinkles said:
“We’ve been trying to contact CM Punk on and off for well over a year. We wanted him on the first show we did in Edinburgh in 2015. I’ve tried going through friends in the industry, I’ve gone through his website and sent dozens of emails but the opportunity has never been this big. We want to offer CM Punk $1 million dollars (£770,000) to come and join the 5 Star Wrestling tour starting June 10th. It’s a genuine offer. We’d love to hear back from the man himself. We want to do this with him.”
Punk has been away from pro wrestling since leaving WWE in January 2014. He lost his MMA debut for UFC in September 2016 and has hoped to make another return to the Octagon but nothing has been announced.
The 5 Star promoter continued:
“It doesn’t get more credible than CM Punk. We all know that if he ever comes back to wrestling it will be one of those epic moments – I want that to be with 5 Star Wrestling, right here in the UK. A common saying in the wrestling world is that the UK has the best fans, well how about we give them the biggest moments too. We are hugely ambitious. When we ask the fans who they want to see, CM Punk’s name is on everybody’s wish list and we’re willing to spend big to make it happen. I know he is seemingly focused on MMA at the moment and this wouldn’t have to end that, but wrestling is in his blood and $1 million has to be worth thinking about.”
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